Birthday Beaver Bonanza

Always looking for new and unusual ways to celebrate my birthday, I paid a visit to one of New York's finest strip joints last night, Larry Flynt's Hustler Club. The evening started out innocently enough with a group of friends at Vlada Lounge in Hell's Kitchen for Happy Hour, but only a few of them were brave and/or adventurous enough to join me for the next stop.

After a short stroll towards the Hudson River, we finally reached our destination at the corner of 51st St & the West Side Hwy. Due to a wee bit of door drama, our group of 5 dwindled to 3, and in we went. Not surprisingly, the place was pretty quiet at 8:30pm, so we headed right up to their fabulous rooftop deck to enjoy the beautiful spring night with a few more celebratory drinks. Our adorably cute and super sweet waitress, Janice, sat with us for a while and shared lots of fascinating stuff. Apparently we weren't the first group of gay men to stop by the club. In fact, she said it's actually quite common. Who knew?

By the time we headed back down to the main floor, the place had filled up a bit and the girls were on stage and working the room. It wasn't long before a beautiful young lady approached us and soon talked me into a lap dance. When we told her we were gay, she was like, "Yeah, I kinda figured that out when you asked about my outfit." (How could we not? She was sporting a fierce little suede leopard-print bikini and swimsuit season is just around the corner!) I have to admit, it was quite a sensual and erotic experience, even if my admiration of the female form is completely platonic. A second lap dance followed later, despite my polite objections, with another lovely young lady, before we decided to call it a night.

All in all, I have to say I was quite impressed with how professionally run this outfit is (w/lots of rules, like no hats, zippered outerwear -- apparently people try to sneak out w/bottles of unfinished liquor they've purchased, etc.), it wasn't sleazy in the least (for a strip club, that is), and everyone we met was a lot of fun and so nice. I doubt I'll become a regular, mind you, but I think future visits are definitely in order. If you wanna check the place out for yourself, print out a coupon from the website for free admission to avoid the $20 cover. Enjoy!

A-8

Beaver in Paradise

In the spirit of the traveling gnome, this little stuffed beaver travels with me everywhere and has been photographed in numerous exotic (and not-so-exotic) locales, including this one which was snapped last summer on the balcony @ my former summer bayside share in fabulous Fire Island Pines, New York.

A-8

Papal Visit Saves City Beaver

No explosives found in East River sweep, but rare, floundering 40-pound beaver rescued.

High Society Beaver

Click here for more on this 1904 Astor Place plaque commemorating John Jacob Astor and the dubious fortune he made in the trade of precious beaver pelts.

Beaveropoly

I'm guessing this game might not be quite as much fun for anyone who's not spent time on the Oregon State University campus. Nevertheless, this is surely a must-have item for any and all true beaver enthusiasts/collectors. (Not to be confused with the ghetto-fabulous, non-PC and widely banned Ghettopoly, of course.) Student or not, check out OSU's bookshop for all sorts of fun beaver-related merchandise!

Clitter - Social Networking for your Beaver